SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – Customers have bombarded a Bay Area taqueria, ever since the restaurant bested tens of thousands of other eateries in a national contest.

FiveThirtyEight, Nate Silver and ESPN’s number crunching site, crowned La Taqueria in San Francisco’s Mission District as having the best burrito in the country.

The search started this summer after editor and stat guru Nate Silver started a burrito bracket with more than 67,000 restaurants.

“When I found out about it, I didn’t think we had a chance,” said Jesus Jara, La Taqueria’s manager and the son of the owner.

“I just left them alone. I didn’t talk to them or anything. I let them enjoy the food and that was about it,” Jara recalled when they reviewed the restaurant.

Apparently that was enough. After they won, the restaurant blew up with customers, and so did Jara’s phone.

“And it just kept going off and off and off all day long,” Jara said.

It got so busy that Jara said they ran out of food. “We were definitely not prepared for the large amount of people that came, so we did not have enough carnitas for everyone. But now we are definitely stocked up and ready to go,” he said.

After 41 years in business, Jara said, “It’s just very exciting to see people come and try our delicious food.”